Method and sysem for shot tracking

ABSTRACT

A method for analyzing a golfer&#39;s swing speed, wherein the method comprises determining that the golfer is addressing a golf ball to swing a golf club, monitoring a backswing, determining a transition point, monitoring a downswing and transmitting data for the golfer&#39;s swing to a receiver for analysis.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/838,656 filed on Jul. 19, 2010.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to shot tracking. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for tracking shots of a golfer during a round of golf.

2. Description of the Related Art

Golf clubs combine with the players swing to propel a ball toward a favored location and through a favored path. The orientation and speed of the club head at impact largely determines the ball path including carry distance and roll.

The prior art is lacking in a method and system to measure the motion of the club through measurement of the shaft.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is novel in that the observation of the relative motion does not depend on near visible light and uses a coherent pattern to capture the position of the club relative the ground antenna transmitter/receiver. This fixed device also includes a display, computing capability and recording device. This information, when processed, enables the display of the swing and uses data on the club head and ball to calculate the flight of the ball.

This invention is a method for predicting a golfer's swing speed. The method comprises determining that a golfer is addressing a golf ball to swing a golf club. The golf club comprises a device comprising an accelerometer and a radiofrequency transceiver. The method further comprises monitoring a backswing of the golfer and determining a transition point from a backswing to a downswing of the golfer. The method further comprises monitoring the downswing of the golfer and transmitting data for the golfer's swing to a receiver for analysis.

The invention further comprises a system for analyzing a golfer's swing. The system comprises a golf club comprising a club head, a shaft, a grip and a device attached to the grip. The device comprises a microprocessor, an accelerometer and a radiofrequency transceiver. The microprocessor is configured to determine that a golfer is addressing a golf ball to swing a golf club, monitor a backswing of the golfer, determine a transition point from a backswing to a downswing of the golfer, monitor the downswing of the golfer, and transmit data for the golfer's swing. The system further comprises a receiver comprising a microprocessor and a transceiver. The transceiver operates on the first communication protocol.

Having briefly described the present invention, the above and further objects, features and advantages thereof will be recognized by those skilled in the pertinent art from the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device for shot tracking.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of components of a device for shot tracking, including the main body and projection body extending downward.

FIG. shows the housing component of the shot tracking device and illustrates the diameter

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the circuit diagram of the components of a device for shot tracking.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method of shot tracking.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a system for shot tracking.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device 20 for shot tracking.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of components of a device 20 for shot tracking, including the main body 22 a and projection body 22 b extending downward.

FIG. 3 shows the housing component 22 of the shot tracking device and illustrates the diameter.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the circuit diagram 25 of the components of a device 20 for shot tracking.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method 100 of shot tracking.

FIG. 6 illustrates the system 10. A transponder in a golf club 50 swung by a golfer sends a signal 62 to a receiver 60. The receiver is attached to a golf bag 61, however, those skilled within the pertinent art will recognize that the receiver may be attached to any pertinent device including the golfer, or may stand alone.

This invention is a method 1000 for analyzing a golfer's swing. The method 1000 comprises determining that a golfer is addressing a golf ball to swing a golf club 50, wherein the golf club 50 comprises a device 20 comprising an accelerometer 28 and a radiofrequency transceiver 1001. The method further comprises monitoring a backswing of the golfer 1002, determining a transition point from a backswing to a downswing of the golfer 1003, monitoring the downswing 1004 of the golfer and transmitting data to a receiver for analysis 1005.

Preferably, the method 1000 comprises transmitting the data on the golfer's swing in a single transmission. Alternatively, the data comprising the golfer's 40 swing is transmitted in a plurality of transmission. The data for the golfer's 40 swing is preferably transmitted at a radiofrequency of 2.4 gigaHertz utilizing the radiofrequency transceiver of the device 20. The device 20 may further comprise a microprocessor 30 a and a battery 24. Preferably, the accelerometer 28 of the device is a multi-axis accelerometer. The monitoring of the backswing and downswing is preferably at a rate of 1 kilo-Hertz or alternatively at a rate of 5 kilo-Hertz. A preferred receiver is a GPS device 60, a Smart Phone, PDA, or computer.

The invention further comprises a system 10 for analyzing a golfer's 40 swing as shown in FIG. 6. The system 10 comprises a golf club 50 comprising a club head, a shaft, a grip and a device 20 attached to the grip. The device 20 comprises a microprocessor 30 a, an accelerometer 28 and a radiofrequency transceiver 30 b. The microprocessor 30 a is configured to determine that a golfer 40 is addressing a golf ball to swing a golf club 50, monitor a backswing of the golfer 40, determine a transition point from a backswing to a downswing of the golfer 40, monitor the downswing of the golfer 40, and transmit data for the golfer's 40 swing. The system 10 further comprises a receiver 60 comprising a microprocessor 30 a and a transceiver wherein the transceiver operates on the first communication protocol.

Preferably, the microprocessor 30 b is configured to transmit data on the golfer's 40 swing in a single transmission. Alternatively, the microprocessor 30 b is configured to transmit the data in a plurality of transmission. The microprocessor 30 b is preferably configured to monitor the backswing and monitor the downswing at a rate of at least 1 kilo-Hertz or alternatively at a rate of at least 5 kilo-Hertz. The data for the golfer's 40 swing is transmitted at a radiofrequency of 2.4 gigaHertz utilizing the radiofrequency transceiver 30 b of the device 20. The device 20 may further comprise a microprocessor 30 a, battery 24 and a multiple axis accelerometer 28. The receiver 60 of the system 10 is preferably a GPS device or alternatively a Smart Phone, PDA, or computer. In an alternative embodiment, the data of the golfer's swing is transmitted from a device 20 comprising a housing 22 composed of a polymer material, wherein the housing has a main body 22 a and a projection body 22 b extending from the main body 22 a as shown in FIGS. 1-2. The projection body 22 b has a length ranging from 1 mm to 5 mm and a diameter ranging from 20 mm to 25 mm as shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, a battery 24 is positioned within the housing 22 and a microprocessor 30 a is positioned within the housing 22, wherein the microprocessor 30 a is in electrical communication with the battery 24. The device 20 further comprises a multi-axis accelerometer 28 for determining movement, monitoring movement and communicating the movement to the microprocessor, wherein the multi-axis accelerometer 28 positioned within the housing 22. The multi-axis accelerometer 28 is in electrical communication with the microprocessor 30 a. A radiofrequency component 30 b is positioned within the housing 22, wherein the radiofrequency component 30 b in electrical communication with the microprocessor 30 a. The radiofrequency component 30 b operates at 2.4 giga-Hertz, and the radiofrequency component 30 b transmits a signal 62 comprising data related to the movement monitored by the multi-axis accelerometer 28.

The battery 24 is preferably a CR1620 having at least 75 milliamps of power. The receiver is preferably a GPS device 60 such as disclosed in Balardeta et al., U.S. Patent Publication Number 20090075761 for a Golf GPS Device And System, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Alternatively, the receiver is a personal digital assistant (PDA), “smart phone”, mobile phone, or other similar device. However, those skilled in the pertinent art will recognize that the receiver may be any device capable of receiving and storing signals from the RFID tag.

Gibbs, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,468 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Galloway, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,470 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Williams, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,166,038 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Desmukh U.S. Pat. No. 7,214,143 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Murphy, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,252,600 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Gibbs, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,626 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Galloway, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,631 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Evans, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,273,419 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Hocknell, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,413,250 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The measurements may be inputted into an impact code such as the rigid body code disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,821,209, entitled Method for Predicting a Golfer's Ball Striking Performance, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The swing properties are preferably determined using an acquisition system such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,990, entitled System and Method for Measuring a Golfer's Ball Striking Parameters, assigned to Callaway Golf Company, the assignee of the present application, and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. However, those skilled in the pertinent art will recognize that other acquisition systems may be used to determine the swing properties.

Other methods that are useful in obtaining a golfer's swing characteristics are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,638,175, for a Diagnostic Golf Club System, U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,634, for an Instrumented Golf Club System And Method Of Use, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,493, for an Instrumented Golf Club System And Method Of Use, all of which are assigned to Callaway Golf Company, the assignee of the present application, and all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

From the foregoing it is believed that those skilled in the pertinent art will recognize the meritorious advancement of this invention and will readily understand that while the present invention has been described in association with a preferred embodiment thereof, and other embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings, numerous changes, modifications and substitutions of equivalents may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention which is intended to be unlimited by the foregoing except as may appear in the following appended claims. Therefore, the embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined in the following appended claims. 

1. A method for analyzing a golfer's swing, the method comprising: determining that a golfer is addressing a golf ball to swing a golf club, the golf club comprising a device comprising an accelerometer and a radiofrequency transceiver; monitoring a backswing of the golfer; determining a transition point from a backswing to a downswing of the golfer; monitoring the downswing of the golfer; and transmitting data for the golfer's swing to a receiver for analysis.
 2. The method according to claim 1 wherein transmitting the data comprises transmitting data on the golfer's swing in a single transmission.
 3. The method according to claim 1 wherein transmitting the data comprises transmitting data in a plurality of transmissions.
 4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the monitoring of the backswing and the monitoring of the downswing occur at a rate of at least 1 kilo-Hertz.
 5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the receiver is a GPS device, Smart Phone, PDA, or computer.
 6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the data for a golfer's swing is transmitted at a radiofrequency of 2.4 gigaHertz utilizing the radiofrequency transceiver of the device.
 7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the device further comprises a microprocessor and a battery.
 8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the accelerometer is a multiple axis accelerometer.
 9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the monitoring of the backswing and the monitoring of the downswing occur at a rate of at least 5 kilo-Hertz.
 10. A system for analyzing a golfer's swing, the system comprising: a golf club comprising a club head, a shaft, a grip and a device attached to the grip, the device comprising a microprocessor, an accelerometer and a radiofrequency transceiver, the microprocessor configured to determine that a golfer is addressing a golf ball to swing a golf club, monitor a backswing of the golfer, determine a transition point from a backswing to a downswing of the golfer, monitor the downswing of the golfer, and transmit data for the golfer's swing; and a receiver comprising a microprocessor and a transceiver, the transceiver operating on the first communication protocol.
 11. The system according to claim 10 wherein the microprocessor is configured to transmit the data on the golfer's swing in a single transmission.
 12. The system according to claim 10 wherein the microprocessor is configured to transmit the data in a plurality of transmissions.
 13. The system according to claim 10 wherein the microprocessor is configured to monitor the backswing and monitor the downswing at a rate of at least 1 kilo-Hertz.
 14. The system according to claim 10 wherein the receiver is a GPS device, Smart Phone, PDA, or computer.
 15. The system according to claim 10 wherein the data for a golfer's swing is transmitted at a radiofrequency of 2.4 gigaHertz utilizing the radiofrequency transceiver of the device.
 16. The system according to claim 10 wherein the device further comprises a battery.
 17. The system according to claim 10 wherein the accelerometer is a multiple axis accelerometer.
 18. The system according to claim 10 wherein the microprocessor is configured to monitor the backswing and monitor the downswing at a rate of at least 5 kilo-Hertz. 